The end of December is traditionally considered a period of summing up all previous months of the year. Last year was no exception. Michael Zgurovsky, rector of the university, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, reported on the results of the university's work in this extremely difficult year at the last meeting of the Administrative Council of the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute in 2022. We provide readers with its full text.
The dramatic, illogical year 2022 has come to an end. The war fundamentally changed the lives of people in Ukraine and the work of our university.
For Kyiv polytechnicians, it was a year of intense work in non-standard conditions, a year of heavy human losses, a year of consolidation and rallying around the comprehensive assistance of the Armed Forces. Currently, in the ranks of the defenders of the Motherland, there are more than two hundred Kyiv polytechnicians and thousands of graduates of past years. Eighteen of them gave their lives for the freedom and independence of Ukraine in 2022.
Right on the second day of the war, February 25, the Crisis Centre and Humanitarian Headquarters were established at the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. The Crisis Centre, in close cooperation with state administration bodies, the National Police of Ukraine, and other state institutions, ensured the life and safety of the university on every single front. The Humanitarian Headquarters supplied food, basic necessities, and medicines to people who were housed in shelters, and supported the life and functioning of the university. An important role was played by the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute Supporting Foundation, which financed purchasing of the above-noted products and services.
After the end of the hot phase of events in Kyiv, on March 22, activities of the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute resumed along all the lines. Attestation and graduation of undergraduate students (3811 people) and graduate students (1300 people) were successfully completed within the specified terms and in full.
This year, despite the martial law, about 70 university-wide contracts were concluded with enterprises for the students’ internship with the aim of improving the level of practical training.
We got on with the development of a dual form of education. As of today, the university has agreements on the organization of a dual form of higher education with 48 companies in 66 educational programs. The areas of energy engineering and the IT industry have become the most popular for training specialists according to the dual system.
The informatization of the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute reached a totally new level. The use of the E-сampus platform, the Sikorsky distance learning platform, the Megapolis electronic document management system, and others, has significantly increased. Thus, today we have about 5,000 certified distance courses on the Sikorsky platform.
Considerable effort was directed at improving telecommunication support for educational and management processes. In particular, shelters in 22 academic buildings and 15 dormitories were provided with telephone and Wi-Fi access to the Internet; Points of Invincibility in the dormitories 13 and 14, in the building of the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, and in the academic building 1 were provided with Wi-Fi access to the Internet.
Under martial law, university official resources in the Telegram messenger became the main means of communication in the university’s team. The total number of followers of the official university Facebook pages exceeded 52 thousand.
This year's university admissions process was quite difficult for all its participants. Some of the entrants were caught in the occupied territory and in the zone of active hostilities, some went abroad with their parents, and we had to do everything to help them exercise their right to education.
On average, the university was replenished with more than 8 thousand students in all levels of training and in 302 educational programs (bachelor's degree - 115, master's degree - 138, postgraduate degree - 49). That is to say, the showings of 2021 were achieved in general. Quantitatively, 5,128 entrants (3,774 for free tuition and 1,354 for the contract) were enrolled in bachelor's degree programs. 2,686 entrants were enrolled in the Master's degree programme (1,767 for free tuition, and 919 for the contract). It is worth noting that the number of students admitted to the Master's degree programme on a contract basis has doubled compared to last year. 282 graduate students were enrolled in postgraduate studies, which is 4% more than last year.
In general, the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute became the largest executor of the state order among all universities of Ukraine at each level of higher education.
During the year, 88 educational programs were updated, and 5 educational programs were introduced based on the recommendations of stakeholders. For the next academic year, admission is planned in 280 educational programs (bachelor's - 102, master's - 133, doctors of philosophy - 45).
In recent years, the heads of all departments of the university have been gradually rejuvenated. The average age of deans of faculties/directors of educational and scientific institutes has decreased by more than 10 years, and it is about 58 years old now; the average age of heads of departments has decreased by almost 20 years (now it is about 50 years old). During the year, competitive admissions were held to fill approximately 600 vacant positions of academic staff.
This year, 8 Doctor of Philosophy programs, and 31 Master's and Bachelor's programs were accredited. Currently, there are 7 Master's programs in the process of accreditation. In general, the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute accredited more than 100 educational programs, including 10 with the definition of "exemplary", under the new procedure over the last three years. By the end of the current academic year, that is, by July 2023, it is planned to accredit another 87 educational programs.
In accordance with the demands of the economy and the labor market, some structural changes took place at the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute in 2022. In particular, the Educational and Research Institute of the Institute of Nuclear and Thermal Energy was created on the basis of TEF, and the Department of Artificial Intelligence was created in the structure of Educational and Research Institute for Applied System Analysis.
The development of science and innovation remained one of the main priorities of our university. 63 contract-based research for a total amount of more than 41 million hryvnias were executed by structural subdivisions. In 2022, the university's scientists won six projects in the Horizon Europe program, and the university won 20 international projects in all programs. Among others, the first international project of the Student Parliament, submitted to the program competition of the Swedish Institute, won. All in all, in 2022 the university received funding through international projects 8 times more than in 2021 (over UAH 34 million).
At the end of the year, scientific groups prepared and submitted 56 research works to competitions of various types. It has already become known that five projects of the university won in the framework program of the EU for scientific research and innovation "Horizon 2020" for a total amount of 9 million hryvnias.
According to the results of the scientific certification, the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute executed a contract with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine for basic financing in the amount of 8.3 million hryvnias. The main purpose of the funding was the complex space program of the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, in the realization of which various structural divisions of the university were involved. The creation of PolyITAN-HP-30, PolyITAN-3-PUT and PolyITAN-12U nanosatellites is being completed today. On January 3, 2023, it is planned to launch the PolyITAN-NR-30 spacecraft into space (the launch took place according to the schedule - ed. “KP"). The other two satellites should be launched into space next year.
In the conditions of air terror in almost all cities of Ukraine, the regular 11th Festival of Innovation Projects "Sikorsky Challenge-2022" was held, which was aimed at solving the urgent requests of the country's defense industry complex, and at starting the post-war program of innovative transformation of Ukraine.
In 2022, scientists of the university received one Prize of the President of Ukraine for young scientists, four Prizes of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, nine scholarships of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, one Award of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine for the development and implementation of innovative technologies.
Educational work with students was very active and multifaceted. We have to pay special respect to those of our students who rallied for the defense of Ukraine. Some of them, unfortunately, have already given their lives for our freedom and independence. From the first days of the war, it was such students who organized themselves into the territorial defense units of the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, built barricades on the territory of the university and in the Solomianskyi District, and took turns at checkpoints both in our district and in other dangerous areas of Kyiv. After the end of the hot phase of events in Kyiv, these students voluntarily continued performing a lot of other important tasks.
We are grateful to the Student Council of the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, and the university trade union, which transferred funds in the amount of 1.5 million hryvnias, and 1 million hryvnias, respectively, to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
On the initiative of concerned students, the Summer School "KPI School of Creativity" was organized and held; and resettlement of students to university dormitories was organized to ensure their living in normal conditions.
The open days of KPIAbitFest promote career orientation of schoolchildren, which help future applicants to prepare for the national multi-subject test, navigate the list of university specialties, and start building a future career.
A series of events within the KPI First Year Marathon, including the large-scale offline event KPItalks "Your first year at KPI", launched this year, helps freshmen adapt to the university community.
The TechnoArtKPI project reached a new level. This year, it was held in the format of a socially useful initiatives competition "Recovery. Reconstruction. Revival" with the participation of not only Ukrainian youth, but also students from Poland.
In the international sphere, the university joined several Alliances of European universities, in particular: ENHANCE, CESAER, EPICUR, ATHENA. This gives us the opportunity to perform more successfully in the scientific and innovation programs of the EU ``Horizon Europe", "Erasmus+" and others.
More than 2 million hryvnias as aid was received from foreign partners. The University of Sheffield (Great Britain), which provided 20,000 pounds for the reconstruction of bomb shelters, is particularly noteworthy. The company "Huawei Ukraine" handed over 350 pieces of communication equipment free of charge for providing the Internet in bomb shelters and academic buildings of the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.
Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute strengthened its position in a number of world university rankings - QS, Webometrics and others. The Embassy of the Italian Republic in Ukraine handed over to the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute a new art object "The DNA of Creativity", which was installed near the Art and Culture Center.
Economic activity was aimed at ensuring the operation and security of the university.
In order to ensure the safety of students and employees of the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, three civil defense shelters, 15 shelters in academic buildings and 14 dormitories of the campus with a total capacity of 6,500 people were prepared and equipped, and their certification was carried out by employees of the State Emergency Service and the police.
Stationary security posts were equipped with a video surveillance system of the surrounding area near academic buildings 1, 5, 6, 7, 12, and 28. In total, 15 new video cameras were additionally installed on the campus.
Taking into account the 51% increase in energy tariffs over the last year and the state of war in the country, a remote energy monitoring system was introduced, which made it possible to monitor and record energy consumption by university facilities in an online mode, identify overspends in a timely manner and promptly influence their elimination.
Work on the modernization of Individual Heating Plants in educational buildings and dormitories continued; they were equipped with modern controllers and provided with the possibility of remote control. These measures made it possible to reduce the costs of housing and communal services to 5.5% of the budget of the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute against the 10% that were expected for the past year.
Work on the improvement of the university territory continued actively. A new park was laid along Borshchahivska Street, and the upgrading of Pioneer Aviators Square near the academic building 1 was kept.
In general, the university continued to live and work successfully in difficult conditions. We accomplished the state order for the training of personnel in its entirety, carried out a wide range of measures aimed at supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and solved all the tasks assigned to us.
Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute - 2022: Results of the Year
Despite the brazen full-scale aggression of the rashists, massive missile attacks and blackouts, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute holds the educational front and is the self perpetuating leader of technical education in Ukraine.
Students and scientists earned victories, presented new developments and innovations, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute launched new joint projects with European universities, and expanded international cooperation.
More than two and a half hundred students and teachers are defending their native land from the enemies.
Kyiv polytechnicians work tirelessly on their front, bringing our victory closer in the new 2023 year!